As I mentioned in my previous post, I had my baby shower but I was waiting for my parents to arrive from Nepal to do a traditional baby shower, also known as Dahi chiura ceremony in Nepali or Dhau-baji in Newari.
In this ceremony, the mother-to-be’s family comes to feed Dhau-baji (yogurt and flattened/beaten rice) and brings Sagun and lots of food along with gifts for the mother-to-be as well as the unborn baby.
My parents have arrived in Sydney now so I am extremely happy as I will have a helping hand to look after the little one for the first few months. I could not imagine how I would have managed if they were not here.
Last weekend, my parents along with the help of my brother and SIL organised the Dahi Chiura ceremony. It was a traditional ceremony with the ladies all wearing saris.
My mum made Yomari and sagun (bara, boiled eggs, chicken and fish) for the occasion and bought some sweets, fruits and cakes as well. They also bought clothes for me along with jewelleries as well as things for little one.
It was a family affair with just me, AS, my parents, brother, SIL and my little nephew.
For the ceremony, my mum followed the followings steps, if anyone wants to know. It might be different for different cultures but I believe the basic will remain the same.
- The ritual started with my mother worshipping Lord Ganesh in the Sukanda. She put tika made of vermillion, rice and yogurt and flowers on Lord Ganesh..
- Then she put tika for me and AS.
- Then she gave us the gifts of fruits, sweets, clothes, and jewelleries.
- This was followed by Sagun and then the main event of dahi chiura, where everyone feeds me dahi chiura.
- Everyone was given Sagun and sweet as well after this.
- Thus the main event of dahi chiura is was conclude.
- Cake is normally not a traditional inclusion for dahi chiura but we had one so I and AS cut the cake together
For many reasons, the dahi chiura ceremony is one of my favourite celebrations for our coming daughter.
In addition to normal family dahi chiura, the pregnant mother is often invited by her relatives to eat meals with them. I had invited many of my family and friends who were pregnant to my place and done the same ceremony so it is my turn to be invited to my close friends and family’s place for the dahi chiura ceremony as well.
It was really nice of all of them to get involved making me and the baby feel special. Here are some of the pics from various occasions of dahi chiura. I was spoiled with lots of blessings, yummy foods and lots of useful gifts .
I am so glad that we are keeping Nepali traditional alive living so far from home and I want to show all these photos to my daughter one day and explain the traditions and culture.
Hope you enjoyed the traditional way of Nepali/Newari baby shower.
Take care,
M from nepaliaustralian
XOXO
nepaliaustralian 
This makes me sad. I (european,married and living to a nepalese) had a son in Nepal and when I was 9 months pregnant I had this ceremony. But no told me about it ahead or explained it. So one day my family in law comes to visit in beautiful clothes, with your mentioned food, plus my favorite food, plus jewelleries and fabric and gifts for me and baby. And I am so confused why everybody made such a fuss about it. The next day I realized what happened and I could have enjoined it so much but instead made it uncomfortable for everyone. I wasn’t prepared or well dressed, I was running around serving them as usual (although they wanted me to sit with them obv), I felt so bad eating alone FIRST before MIL and everybody was watching. I felt so bad getting so much more gifts than usual (family regulary comes to visit with small gifts for everyone, typically food). If I just knew what happened I could make it a nice memory for everyone and my mayalu MIL…:( Thank you for posting and explaining this ceremony for the future!!! Now I want another baby just to celebrate it properly. :DD
I am sorry to hear about your experience. Hope you get to enjoy this beautiful ceremony again 😊
Wow my dahi chiura was super simple compared to yours. It looks amazing! Yomari looks beautiful! Sagoon from mom is always the best, isn’t it? 🙂 My in-laws are Gurung so they find Sagoon to be super interesting.
Thank you gal. My family definitely put some effort to make that happen.
I really love Newari / Nepali tradition and I hope to follow them as much as possible here so Chhori will learn about them. Living aboard it will be hard to teach her so many things about our culture which we learned by default in Nepal.
It’s going to be interesting from my side with both Newar and Gurung customs. 😅 I’m looking forward to the fun though!
There is so much we need to pass on to next generation. Hope both our kids will appreciated the cultures to want to learn more 🙂
Hello m…
I am planning a baby shower for my wife who is from Nepal ….we live in Australia….can u tell me where did u get that Dahi chiura banner from….
Thanks
First of all big congratulations. I made the banner. It is easy . Just make letters in word and print them in a4 paper. Cut in shape and use string to make the banner. Hope this helps.
Dear M, went through ur new posts and congrats again for evry new milestones on your way. Can you please tell me how did you manage to wear saree in above pictures as here I am on constant pressure to wear it in my BIL’s upcoming wedding next month. I will be almost 8 months approx. Hoping to see ur answer. 🙂
Hello gal,
Hope you are having a good pregnancy. It was bit of a challenge to wear a sari when you are so big. I wore the sari high up and pinned it everywhere so noone can see it. I assure you it is not very comfortable(I was wearing it for few hours only) so if there is a choice wear kurta or lengha which will make your life easier. All the best and share the good news soon..
Take care
M
How lovely….I loved reading about the rituals. Such a special event.
Looks like a lovely family affair…your daughter is gonna love to see and know all this 🙂
So beautiful.
This sounds like a wonderful tradition! I love the idea of showing the photos to your daughter one day. It looks beautiful!